CHAPTER X 



ETHNOLOGICAL MATERIAL SECURED IN THE 

 HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S TERRITORY 



THIS list includes several specimens not made by the In- 

 dians, but all of which are typical of those used in the Fur 

 Country, exclusive of the northern border where the Eskimos 

 have arts peculiar to themselves. With the exception of the 

 deservedly much-praised birch-bark canoe and the birch flat 

 sled, it is believed that every article 1 of Dog Rib manufacture, 

 of any consequence, is included in this list. They use gill nets, 

 unrepresented in the collection, but they are made by the women 

 after the manner taught them by the metis voyageurs. They 

 are almost without arts, and lead a wandering life which pre- 

 vents the accumulation of any considerable amount of property. 

 One industry, at least, that of dressing skins, has been fairly well 

 developed, as naturally might be expected in a country where 

 so many skins are absolutely necessary for their protection. 



Caribouskin Lodge. The collection contains a skin lodge 

 from Rae, which was made for the chief Naohmby. It is made 

 from the dressed skins of forty caribou. It is 13 feet in cir- 

 cumference at the top and 57 feet at the bottom. It is 12 feet 

 from the top to the base. When carried it is rolled in two 

 rolls so that the middle, opposite the open side, may receive a 

 pole in the loop at the top with which to raise the rolls in posi- 

 tion against the cone around which they are unrolled in setting 

 up the lodge. The free edges overlap and are made fast by 

 thongs 4 feet long. The two wings at the margin of the smoke 

 hole are shifted, according to the direction of the wind, by two 

 poles resting against the outside of the lodge. It is much 

 easier to enter a Cree lodge than to scramble into that of the 



1 A dog harness, a general description of which is given in the narrative, 

 p. 16, is included in the collection. 



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